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Welfare Ministry
to Him are impressed on mind and heart. God has enjoined nothing
that is not necessary to bind up humanity with Him. “The law of the
[248]
Lord is perfect, converting the soul.... The commandment of the Lord
is pure, enlightening the eyes.” “By the word of Thy lips,” says the
psalmist, “I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”
Psalm 19:7,
8
;
17:4
.
Angels are helping in this work to restore the fallen and bring
them back to the One who has given His life to redeem them, and
the Holy Spirit is cooperating with the ministry of human agencies to
arouse the moral powers by working on the heart, reproving of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment.—
Testimonies for the Church 6:259,
260
.
Working for the Intemperate[
Further details and counsel on this
topic will be found in
The Ministry of Healing, 171-182
, and a more
recent exhaustive compilation entitled Temperance.]—Earnest effort
should be made in behalf of those who are in bondage to evil habits.
There is everywhere a work to be done for those who through intemper-
ance have fallen. In the midst of churches, religious institutions, and
professedly Christian homes, many of the youth are choosing the path
to destruction. Through intemperate habits they bring upon themselves
disease, and through greed to obtain money for sinful indulgence they
fall into dishonest practices. Health and character are ruined. Aliens
from God, outcasts from society, these poor souls feel that they are
without hope either for this life or for the life to come. The hearts of
the parents are broken. Men speak of these erring ones as hopeless,
but not so does God regard them. He understands all the circumstances
that have made them what they are, and he looks upon them with pity.
This is a class that demand help. Never give them occasion to say, “no
man cares for my soul.”
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Among the victims of intemperance are men of all classes and
all professions. Men of high station, of eminent talents, of great
attainments, have yielded to the indulgence of appetite, until they are
helpless to resist temptation. Some of them who were once in the
possession of wealth are without home, without friends, in suffering,
misery, disease, and degradation. They have lost their self-control.
Unless a helping hand is held out to them they will sink lower and
lower.—
The Ministry of Healing, 171, 172
.